A week in Nairobi offered a glimpse of what the future of philanthropy could look like: local, trust-based and community-led.   I had the privilege of joining the GFCF's Community Philanthropy Symposium in Nairobi, Kenya from 8 — 10 October 2025, alongside 42 participants from 23 countries. I was representing the Roots and Wings Foundation from Hungary. Most of us came from challenging environments, yet we shared a deep commitment to strengthening local communities and rethinking how power and resources flow. We met at a time when the global context feels increasingly fragile: aid budgets are shrinking or collapsed, civic space is under...

  When I worked in international philanthropy, it was damn near impossible to get funders to appreciate why funding programmes under the umbrella of art and culture was important. Some of the top reasons that still stay with me about why that is are: Most programmes catered to the arts do not fit neatly into the “poverty porn” trope that the development industry thrives on. When funders (often existing outside of cultural context) decide on what they deem important in Global South societies such as ours, they still want to hear stories that are littered with signs of our suffering and tragedies....